Wayne Connolly’s earliest memories are of a cramped terraced house in Didsbury, Manchester. The Connolly Scaffolding boss grew up in the 1980s in a large Irish family, with no hot water, an outside toilet and a bedroom carved out of a bathroom.
“I came from a very poor home,” he recalls. “We had a two up, two down terrace with an outside toilet. My mum and dad rented, and they had seven children in that house. We had no hot water. The bathroom was my bedroom.”
Four decades on, and Connolly is enjoying a very different situation in his home city. As president of the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC), he has presided over the second – and bigger – annual ScaffEx exhibition at the Manchester Central Convention Complex.
From garages to gantries
Although construction ran through his family, Connolly initially avoided working in the trade. He trained as a car mechanic and, at 22, borrowed £7,000 to open his first garage. By 30, he owned five across Manchester.
“All my family were in construction… I said, ‘No, I’m never going into construction. No chance,’” he recalls. But after selling the garages, Connolly found himself drawn to scaffolding. It was a decision that would shape the rest of his working life.
Now he leads a scaffolding event that has drawn suppliers, contractors and trade bodies from 26 countries.
He says ScaffEx was born of frustration: “Scaffolding is often treated as the poor relation in construction. We wanted to put it on the map, and that’s what ScaffEx is about.”
The show gives suppliers a chance to demonstrate innovations, and employers the opportunity to view new products. “You don’t know what you don’t know,” Connolly says. “People walk the floor and realise there are better ways of doing things that can change a business overnight.”
He says that despite the challenge and complexity of scaffolding work, the trade is rarely offered as an option in further education. Students aged 16 to 18 “can study plumbing, joinery or roofing at college, but scaffolding rarely features”, he says, adding: “That must change if we want the next generation to see this as a profession.”
The issue is not unique to the UK, and this month’s ScaffEx saw the launch of the International Access and Scaffolding Association, a body uniting groups from the United States, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia.
Connolly was elected chair of the new body for its first two years. “In America and Australia, scaffolding has only just been recognised as a trade. Our job is to support them, stand shoulder to shoulder and help raise standards globally,” he explains.
Connolly is also chair of the CISRS scaffolder training scheme, owned by NASC, and is currently driving through reforms to what he describes as “rinse and repeat” methods.
“We have not moved with the times,” he says. “Digitalisation has passed us by, and we cannot go on like that.”
The NASC has invested in blended training, combining practical instruction with online learning.
“There is no reason scaffolding cannot embrace that,” he says. “It gives learners more time on practical skills and allows those who struggle in a classroom setting to progress at their own pace.”
However, bringing all training centres along has not been a doddle. Connolly emphasises that the NASC board has listened to feedback, revised its language and made concessions where possible, but stresses that compromise must not result in delays to the reform of provision.
“We cannot have splinter groups. We must move forward together. Change is hard, but it is necessary,” he says.
Connolly also highlights the pressures threatening the next generation of scaffolders – not least from recent government tax changes. “The payroll tax changes have been a huge blow,” he says. “For my own company, it costs £180,000 a year. That makes some businesses think twice about hiring apprentices. But without them, we will have no future workforce.”
He argues that getting the shape of scaffolding training right is crucial. “A scaffolder can earn £50,000 a year and more. But we have to reach teenagers at the right age, and we need training centres in places they can get to on the bus. Many young people cannot afford cars or insurance. If the training is not accessible, we lose them.”
Looking forward
ScaffEx will return next year. For the boy who once slept in a Didsbury bathroom, leading an international exhibition on scaffolding in Manchester was a symbolic moment. “It has come full circle,” Connolly reflects. “This is my home city, and to see scaffolding finally celebrated here makes me proud. But this is just the beginning. We must build on it.”
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Colin Marrs